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Featuring the October 1970 album "Skid"
When Ireland's SKID ROW released their October 1970 "Skid" debut LP on CBS Records in the UK (December 1970 in the USA on Epic) - I had just turned 11 and was living in Dublin – hungry to trash my poor middle-class parents nice living room with some hairy-arsed Rock and fire-breathing fretful rebellion (you go young Baz).
As you can imagine - young Irish delinquents like Moi had few names to turn to – Rory Gallagher and his band Taste were an obvious choice of course – and what a stunning unit they were. But when the 17-year guitar-flash GARY MOORE from Belfast in Northern Ireland hit the Republic’s North/South gigging scene (helped by Dublin songwriter and Bassist BRUSH SHIELS and his drumming pal NOEL 'Nollaig' BRIDGEMAN) – Moore's incendiary playing and Skid Row’s tight three-piece live shows became a very big deal indeed.
As a solid touring support band Skid Row even impressed Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac who had their manager Clifford Davis take over the touring/recording reins. Greeny was apparently pencilled in to be the Producer for the debut LP - but it never happened with Davis stepping up to the console instead. Impressively – when the album did arrive - it charted at No. 30 in the UK on vinyl LP release - quite a feat given the decidedly speeded-up Blues-Prog-Rock nature of the music (it wouldn't have been everybody's cup of Darjeeling even then) and the vivid creature-creepy Nigel Watson mythical pencil-drawing artwork. Big things were indeed expected of this band...
But as much as my unbridled affection for them and all things remotely Thin Lizzy-related (Moore later joined the ranks) - this rather brill 2017 twofer from England's Beat Goes On has only shown up the dreadfully dated nature of the debut. The good news however is that LP No. 2 - "34 Hours" from June 1971 – shows a huge jump in songwriting craft and the six Extras on Disc 2 actually do warrant the word 'Bonus' – putting this reissue right up there for fans and a tasty temptation for those who like their early Seventies Rock a bit mad and wild.
There is a lot to get through - so once more unto the zippy licks and teenage kicks...
UK released Friday, 14 July 2017 (21 July 2017 in the USA) - "Skid/34 Hours + Bonus Tracks" by SKID ROW on Beat Goes On BGOCD 1302 (Barcode 5017261213020) is a 2CD Reissue and Remaster of their first two albums from 1970 and 1971 bolstered up with six 'Bonus Tracks' from the period - three non-album single-sides and three outtakes from the original LP sessions that were initially withdrawn (finally issued on vinyl in 1983 by CBS). Here are the details...
Disc 1 (38:29 minutes):
1. Mad Dog Woman [Side 1]
2. Virgo's Daughter
3. Heading Home Again
4. An Awful Lot of Woman
5. Unco-Up Showband Blues
6. For Those Who Do [Side 2]
7. After I Am Gone
8. The Man Who Never Was
9. Felicity
Tracks 1 to 9 are their debut LP "Skid" - released October 1970 in the UK on CBS Records S 63965 and December 1970 in the USA on Epic E 30404. Produced by CLIFFORD DAVIS (Fleetwood Mac's manager) - it peaked at No. 30 on the UK LP charts (didn't chart USA).
Disc 2 (57:33 minutes):
1. Night Of The Warm Witch (Including The Following Morning) [Side 1]
2. First Thing In The Morning (Including Last Thing At Night)
3. Mar
4. Go, I'm Never Gonna Let You, Part 1 (Including Go, I'm Never Gonna Leave You, Part 2) [Side 2]
5. Lonesome Still
6. The Love Story, Part 1 (Including The Love Story, Parts 2-4)
Tracks 1 to 6 are their second studio album "34 Hours" - released June 1971 in the UK on CBS Records S 64411 and August 1971 in the USA on Epic E 30913. Produced by CLIFFORD DAVIS and named after the amount of time it took to record - it didn't chart in either country.
BONUS TRACKS:
7. New Faces Old Places
8. Sandy's Gone (Part 1)
9. Sandy's Gone (Part 2)
10. Morning Star Avenue
11. Oi'll Tell You Later
12. Mr. De-Luxe
Tracks 7 to 11 were part of the original sessions in 1969 but abandoned for newer material on the 1970 released LP (Tracks 1, 4, 6 and 7 on Disc 1 to be exact – all the other tracks were re-recorded too).
Tracks 8 and 9 (from the original sessions) were salvaged as an A&B-side and issued as a non-album debut UK 45 - released 26 March 1970 on CBS Records 4893
Track 12 is the non-album B-side of their 2nd UK 7” single – an edit of "Night Of The Warm Witch" released 30 April 1971 on CBS Records 7181
SKID ROW was:
BRUSH SHIELS - Bass Guitar and Lead Vocals
GARY MOORE - Lead Guitar and Lead/Second Vocals
NOEL 'Nollaig' BRIDGEMAN - Drums
NOTES ON THE DEBUT LP "Skid" – 1969 Original vs. 1970 Re-Record:
Nine tracks were initially recorded in 1969 by the band with Producer MIKE SMITH at the helm - but that version (to be called "Skid Row") was scrapped with only a two-part single of "Sandy's Gone" emerging from the sessions. That rather mellow (and musically unrepresentative) two-parter was issued 26 March 1970 as a stand-alone British 45 on CBS Records 4893 - but sold little (both sides are included here as Bonus Tracks on Disc 2).
The whole album was then re-recorded (in eleven hours) with a rejiggered track list and new material in April 1970 and became the released LP known simply as "Skid" (all of CD Disc 1). However in 1983 - CBS Records UK decided to re-issue the initial recordings as a vinyl LP again in different artwork (to show it was different material) but confusingly using the same catalogue as the original release - S 63965. This was in turn re-issued in 1992 as a 'Rewind' issue on CBS 450623 1 (LP) and 450623 2 (CD).
That original 1969 version ran as follows...
Side 1:
1. Sandie's Gone
2. The Man Who Never Was
3. Heading Home Again
4. Felicity
Side 2.
1. Unco-up Showband Blues
2. Morning Star Avenue
3. Oi'll Tell You Later
4. Virgo's Daughter
5. New Faces Old Places
This 2CD reissue will allow at least some of that to be sequenced. It is of course a damn shame this BGO reissue didn’t think to include those remaining 1969 original recordings as Bonus Tracks on Disc 1 – but alas.
So what do you get? The outer BGO card slipcase adds a classy feel (as always) to this release and the 20-page booklet with new liner notes from noted writer JOHN O’REGAN offers a detailed history, original artwork (the inner gatefold of "34 Hours") – repro label shots of several rare British, Irish and Euro 45s and even 1971 concert posters from the Lyceum, The Marquee and The Winter Gardens at Great Malvern – very tasty indeed. But the big news is new ANDREW THOMPSON Remasters from 2017 that sound amazingly clean and powerful. Sure the rapidly recorded material is crude (especially on the debut) but man does it sound good. In September 2001 Repertoire of Germany issued a remaster CD of the 1970 debut album "Skid" with both parts/sides of the "Sandy's Gone" UK 7" single as its two Bonus Tracks. I've had that issue for years and the Thompson remaster is clearer right from the start of Side 1's "Mad Dog Woman". To the music...
Even though Moore was the centre of guitar attention in Ireland's Skid Row - Bassist Brush Shiels was the band's principal songwriter providing five of the nine debut tracks - "Mad Dog Woman", "Virgo's Daughter", "Heading Home Again", "An Awful Lot Of Woman" and "After I'm Gone" - while also co-writing "Unco-Up Showband Blues", "For Those Who Do" and "The Man Who Never Was" with Moore and Bridgeman. Moore alone provided the lengthy album finisher "Felicity". I have to admit that the initial "Mad Dog Woman" track is dreadfully dated (vocals, structure, the slightly clumsy playing) - but the following "Virgo's Daughter" is brilliant. With its twinned vocals-and-guitar opening refrain - the song feels like a sort of Prog Blues - like Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac circa "Green Manalishi" meets Vincent Crane's Atomic Rooster. Its clever yet accessible song-structure is perhaps why Greeny liked the Irish band so much. "Virgo's Daughter" is still on my fave tracks from their early years.
That rocking moment is quickly replaced with the plucked Country-Bop jaunt of "Heading Home Again" - Brush showing he could do melody as well as boogie. We're then hit with a track that probably introduced Skid Row to the masses - "An Awful lot Of Woman". It's complicated, short and speed freak verses with a pure Rock 'n' Roll guitar centre from Moore featured as Track 4 on Side 4 of the double-album CBS Records label sampler "Rock Buster" (with Arnie flexing those Austrian arms on the front cover). How many of us bought those cheap label samplers and were introduced to bands and artist we might never have listened to otherwise. For the end of Side 1 we then go into five and half minutes of slow Rock-Blues with "Unco-Up Showband Blues" where Gary gets to stretch out and show some fret skills. Nice...
Side 2's "For Those Who Do" shows the band's Prog even Jazz Rock leanings and it’s so easy to hear why Moore (as he races up and down the neck of his guitar) joined Colosseum II only a few years later on. That complicated jerky rhythm is evident again in the short but funkily brill "After I Am Gone" – Bridgeman and his crashing drums doing well to keep up with Gary who seems determining to chew gum really fast as he plays. Another LP highlight follows with the guitar-and-bass battle that is "The Man Who Never Was" – a song that is possibly too clever clogs for its own boots. Side 2 of the debut ends with nine minutes of Moore’s "Felicity" – a track I find hard to listen to now – like Jeff Beck forgetting economy and going off on a playing tangent just to suit himself.
Things had improved dramatically in the songwriting front by the time they reached album No. 2 "34 Hours" – so named for the amount of time it took to record. Both CBS Records UK and Ireland tried an edit of the brilliant “Night Of The Warm Witch” as a 45 in late April 1971. It’s nine-minute album length was shortened – starting the song at about 1:03 minutes when the drums and riff kick in. It’s an absolute crying shame that this brill edit isn’t included on here as a CD bonus track. But at least we do get its equally excellent and genuinely exciting B-side "Mr. De-Luxe" - the kind of kick-ass flipside I love – a little like the flip of Lizzy’s "Whiskey In The Jar" – the fab and cool "Black Boys On The Corner". For "Mr. De-Luxe" Moore and the boys get to boogie – Rock ‘n’ Roll the place – and I’ve loved it for years.
The short but speedy "First Thing in The Morning..." turns out to be another woman-troubles song that requires a wild guitar solo from Gary that sounds like he’s in the back of a school room sulking after teacher’s admonishment. Side 1 of "34 Hours" ends on the musically pretty "Mar" where vocally Shiels sounds like Terry Stamp of Third World War – weary, angry and containing the sad-and-glad with a cheery demeanour. For me Moore plays some of his best guitar on this track – a few effects first and then a solo that feels Blues-Soulful.
Over on Side 2 of "34 Hours" nine minutes of the hornary "Go, I’m Never Gonna Let You..." confirms how good the album is – great Rock and the production values are huge – as big as the riffs and musical ideas. Time for an unexpected Byrds-go-Country interlude with "Lonesome Still" coming on all Gram Parsons Pedal Steel Guitar – a misery shuffle in four-time pain. To end an accomplished second album were back to Skid Row’s trademark rapid boogie – the excellent "The Love Story..." – vocal scatting as Moore copies the staccato words. Amidst the Bonus Tracks "New Faces Old Places" is the prize for the album outtakes and those three great single sides are actually worth owning.
Sure there is a missed opportunity here (Disc 1 could have had the two versions of the debut album for the first time – one following the other - and how about a few of those Irish-only early single sides over on Disc 2 as well) – but whatever way you look at it – this is a classy release for the beginnings of a great band that imploded too soon - Ireland's Skid Row.
Top audio, quality presentation and a good price for rarities that are now so hard to find on original vinyl - old places with new faces indeed. Well done to all involved...
